Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a game for completionists, giving you tons of things to collect that can take up a lot of your time. In particular, bug catching can eat up lots of your time, especially since so many of them only appear during certain times of the year. Each month, different bugs come and go, even though the overall list might not change much from July to August, for example.
In this guide, we’ll go through all of the new Animal Crossing: New Horizons August 2021 bug list, including tips on when they appear, where to find them, how much they’re worth, and more.
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Bug-catching tips
Bug spawns are peculiar, with some of them only appearing in specific, fixed locations, while others are more general. For instance, in order to get an ant to spawn, you must have rotten food. Stink bugs, on the other hand, appear on flowers that can be found across your island. In some cases, depending on the bug, you’ll have to wander the island a bit to get them to spawn, so keep that in mind.
We recommend bringing multiple nets with you while searching for bugs. That way, you’ve got a backup if one breaks, which will save you from having to visit the store or your personal stash for an extra one. Likewise, bringing a Golden Net is a great idea since they last longer than the standard counterpart.
When approaching deadly creatures like scorpions and tarantulas, it’s best to walk up to them with your net put away, as they’re less likely to attack you. If you’ve tried to catch one with your net out, you’ve probably been injured by them at some point or another, so try the process empty-handed. Once you get close enough, grab your net, and you’ll have an easier time capturing them.
Bug list
One of the quirks of Animal Crossing: New Horizons is that it follows the seasons in real time, meaning summer in the game reflects summer in real life. That rule rings true regardless of the hemisphere, and depending on the time of year, various bugs will make an appearance. But it gets deeper than that, as certain bugs that appear throughout a given month will only come out during specific times of the day. These bugs come and go as the seasons change, so you’ll always want to keep up to date with the current list for the month.
Changes in August
In August, you’ll find various changes to the available bugs. In the Northern Hemisphere, many of the bugs that appeared last month remain, but some new inclusions this month include the migratory locust, banded dragonfly, pondskater, diving beetle, and violin beetle. The tarantula is no longer available, as it left last month.
The Southern Hemisphere also features changes this August. Gone are the yellow butterfly, bell cricket, red darner, banded dragonfly, ladybug, tiger beetle, and many others. But replacing those bugs are the damselfly, rice grasshopper, and walker cicada, so you’ll still have plenty of critters to catch. And, of course, many of the bugs from July are still present this month.
Below are the full lists of August 2021’s bugs across the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
Northern Hemisphere
- • Tiger butterfly: Flying, 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. (240 bells)
• Common bluebottle: Flying, 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. (300 bells)
• Paper kite butterfly: Flying, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. (1,000 bells)
• Great purple emperor: Flying, 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. (3,000 bells)
• Emperor butterfly: Flying, 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. (4,000 bells)
• Agrias butterfly: Flying, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (3,000 bells)
• Rajah Brooke’s birdwing: Flying, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (2,500 bells)
• Queen Alexandra’s birdwing: Flying, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (4,000 bells)
• Moth: Flying near light sources, 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. (130 bells)
• Atlas moth: On trees, 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. (3,000 bells)
• Madagascan sunset moth: Flying, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (2,500 bells)
• Long locust: On the ground, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. (200 bells)
• Migratory locust: On the ground, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. (600 bells)
• Rice grasshopper: On the ground, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. (160 bells)
• Grasshopper: On the ground, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (160 bells)
• Mantis: On flowers, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (430 bells)
• Orchid mantis: On white flowers, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (2,400 bells)
• Wasp: Shaking trees, all day (2,500 bells)
• Brown cicada: On trees, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (250 bells)
• Robust cicada: On trees, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (300 bells)
• Giant cicada: On trees, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (500 bells)
• Walker cicada: On trees, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (400 bells)
• Evening cicada: On trees, 4a.m. to 8 a.m. & 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. (550 bells)
• Cicada shell: On trees, all day (10 bells)
• Darner dragonfly: Flying, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (230 bells)
• Banded dragonfly: Flying, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (4,500 bells)
• Pondskater: On fresh water, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. (130 bells)
• Diving beetle: On fresh water, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. (800 bells)
• Giant water bug: On fresh water, 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. (2,000 bells)
• Stinkbug: On flowers, all day (120 bells)
• Mantofaced stink bug: On flowers, 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. (1,000 bells)
• Tiger beetle: On the ground, all day (1,500 bells)
• Jewel beetle: On tree stumps, all day (2,400 bells)
• Citrus longtohorned beetle: On tree stumps, all day (350 bells)
• Rosalia batesi beetle: On tree stumps, all day (3,000 bells)
• Blue weevil beetle: On palm trees, all day (800 bells)
• Earthtoboring dung beetle: On the ground, all day (300 bells)
• Scarab beetle: On trees, 11 p.m. to 8 a.m. (10,000 bells)
• Drone beetle: On trees, all day (200 bells)
• Goliath beetle: On palm trees, 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. (8,000 bells)
• Saw stag: On trees, all day (2,000 bells)
• Miyama stag: On trees, all day (1,000 bells)
• Giant stag: On trees, 11 p.m. to 8 a.m. (10,000 bells)
• Rainbow stag: On trees, 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. (6,000 bells)
• Cyclommatus stag: On palm trees, 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. (8,000 bells)
• Golden stag: On palm trees, 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. (12,000 bells)
• Giraffe stag: On palm trees, 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. (12,000 bells)
• Horned dynastid: On trees, 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. (1,350 bells)
• Horned atlas: On palm trees, 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. (8,000 bells)
• Horned elephant: On palm trees, 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. (8,000 bells)
• Horned hercules: On palm trees, 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. (12,000 bells)
• Walking stick: On trees, 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. & 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. (600 bells)
• Walking leaf: Disguised as leaves, all day (600 bells)
• Bagworm: Shaking trees, all day (600 bells)
• Ant: On rotten food, all day (80 bells)
• Hermit: Disguised as shells, 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. (1,000 bells)
• Wharf roach: On rocks at the beach, all day (200 bells)
• Fly: On trash, all day (60 bells)
• Mosquito: Flying, 5 p.m. to 4 a.m. (130 bells)
• Flea: On villagers, all day (70 bells)
• Snail: On rocks and bushes during rain, all day (250 bells)
• Spider: Shaking trees, 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. (480 bells)
• Scorpion: On the ground, 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. (8,000 bells)
Southern Hemisphere
- • Common butterfly: Flying, 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. (160 bells)
• Paper kite butterfly: Flying, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. (1,000 bells)
• Emperor butterfly: Flying, 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. (4,000 bells)
• Rajah Brooke’s birdwing: Flying, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (2,500 bells)
• Moth: Flying near light sources, 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. (130 bells)
• Wasp: Shaking trees, all day (2,500 bells)
• Damselfly: Flying, all day (500 bells)
• Mole cricket: Underground, all day (500)
• Tiger beetle: On the ground, all day (1,500 bells)
• Citrus longtohorned beetle: On tree stumps, all day (350 bells)
• Dung beetle: Rolling snowballs along the ground, all day (3,000)
• Bagworm: Shaking trees, all day (600 bells)
• Ant: On rotten food, all day (80 bells)
• Hermit crab: Disguised as shells, 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. (1,000 bells)
• Wharf roach: On rocks at the beach, all day (200 bells)
• Fly: On trash, all day (60 bells)
• Snail: On rocks and bushes during rain, all day (250 bells)
• Pill bug: Hitting rocks, 11 p.m. to 4 p.m. (250 bells)
• Centipede: Hitting rocks, 4 p.m. to 11p.m. (300 bells)
• Spider: Shaking trees, 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. (480 bells)
• Tarantula: On the ground, 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. (8,000 bells)
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