Dave the Diver Insectagram Guide: All 37 Species (2026)

This Dave the Diver Insectagram guide covers a full second collection game hidden inside the In the Jungle DLC's main story, one almost nobody covering the expansion has explained past "here's where to find bugs." The Insectagram tracks 37 named catches, not the roughly 30 that most location-focused guides cite, and the beetle-battle side of it got a real mechanical rework in an August patch that most existing coverage predates entirely.

TL;DR: The Bug Net unlocks early (around Chapter 2) during the Lipah's Fireflies sub mission. Butterflies, moths, and similar insects get netted directly; stag and rhinoceros beetles have to be beaten in a rock-paper-scissors Beetle Battle first, unlocked later through The Torn Bug Net quest. A dedicated wiki's itemized list puts the real species count at 37: 34 that count toward the Insectagram's completion percentage, plus a bonus Snail and two quest beetles gated at 50% and 100%. An August 6, 2026 patch added consumable "insect jellies" to Beetle Battle and changed how Paper's block works.

Dave the Diver Insectagram guide: how does bug catching work? (quick answer)

Dave nets ordinary insects directly with the Bug Net, but stag and rhinoceros beetles have to be weakened and beaten in a turn-based Beetle Battle before they'll join the collection. Every catch, netted or battled, logs into the Insectagram app on Dave's phone, which tracks progress toward 37 total entries across five jungle zones.

Dave the Diver Insectagram guide: key takeaways

• The Bug Net comes from Lipah's Fireflies, an early village sub mission; community guides place it around Chapter 2
• Beetles can't be netted. They have to be weakened in a Beetle Battle, a rock-paper-scissors fight gated behind The Torn Bug Net questline (around Chapter 3)
• A dedicated wiki documents 37 named catches: 34 count toward the completion percentage, plus a Snail and two quest beetles (Flamecrest at 50%, Golden Tiger at 100%) that don't
• Udo, the NPC who unlocks the Insectagram, later becomes a hireable Bancho Grill staff member once your collection hits 50%
• Udo's shop sells extra beetles (capped at 3 per day), and a June 25, 2026 patch fixed a bug where insects bought there confused the app's tracking
• An August 6, 2026 patch added consumable insect jellies to Beetle Battle and changed what blocking with Paper does

Overview

This guide covers the Bug Net, insect catching, Beetle Battles, and the Insectagram app as they stand after MINTROCKET's August 6, 2026 patch (client version 1.0.6.2084), the most recent update to touch this system at the time of writing. It does not cover the separate lizard-catching mechanic in Setah Forest, which uses bait rather than a net and isn't tracked by the Insectagram, or Marinca Bloom, a different smartphone app that handles fish and lake creatures. Those two get lumped in with "collectibles" a lot in casual conversation, but they're mechanically distinct systems with their own unlock chains.

You'll want the base story unlocked past its opening hours before this matters much: the Bug Net itself is an early pickup, but Beetle Battles and the full Insectagram don't open until a specific village encounter a chapter or so later. Budget maybe 15 to 20 minutes of active hunting per zone once you're set up, plus whatever time you sink into Beetle Battles if you're chasing the two quest-gated beetles at the top of the list.

Step-by-Step: catching insects, unlocking Beetle Battles, and building the Insectagram

1. Get the Bug Net from Lipah's Fireflies. This sub mission surfaces naturally once you've had a look around Utara Village. Lipah asks Dave to catch three fireflies, and since you have no catching tool at that point, she hands you the Bug Net immediately. Community guides place this around Chapter 2, well before Beetle Battles open up.

2. Net your first insects. Approach slowly. Quick movements spook most species, and how skittish a given bug is varies: butterflies barely react and can often be walked up to directly, while other species flee the moment Dave gets close and need a slower, more patient approach. Flying insects, butterflies, moths, the Takua Cicada, and the Stick Insect, get netted mid-swing while they're airborne rather than on the ground.

Butterflies like these are the least skittish of the DLC's insects and are usually the easiest first catches once the Bug Net is in hand.

3. Trigger The Torn Bug Net. In the northern part of Utara Village near the Bamboo Forest, a beetle sitting in a tree marked with an exclamation point is baiting you into your next unlock. Try to net it directly and the Bug Net tears instead of catching anything, kicking off The Torn Bug Net sub mission. Multiple guides place this beetle encounter around Chapter 3.

4. Meet Udo. Repairing the net brings Udo, a photographer NPC, into the story. He explains proper beetle-catching technique, hands Dave a free Lesser Stag Beetle to fight with, and unlocks two things at once: the Insectagram app and Beetle Battles themselves. Everything from here on gets logged in one place.

5. Fight your first Beetle Battle. Approach any wild beetle after this point and you'll enter a battle screen instead of a netting prompt. Each side's beetle has HP, an attack stat, and a type (Rock, Paper, or Scissors) that boosts its own move. Matching moves compare attack stats directly; whoever's higher lands the bigger hit. Reduce the wild beetle's HP to zero and it's yours.

6. Check Udo's shop for beetles you're missing. Udo also sells beetles directly, capped at three purchases per day. It's a legitimate way to round out a roster you're struggling to find in the wild, though a June 25, 2026 patch confirms this interacted awkwardly with the tracking system before it was fixed (see below).

Beetle Battle types, the August jelly patch, and what changed

The Rock-Paper-Scissors layer isn't just cosmetic flavor on top of a stat check. A Scissors-type beetle deals extra damage specifically when it plays Scissors; a Rock-type beetle deals extra damage playing Rock; a Paper-type beetle's advantage used to be pure healing when it played Paper. That last part changed. MINTROCKET's own August 6, 2026 patch notes state it directly: "Successfully blocking with Paper now deals damage back to the opponent." Paper is no longer a pure sustain option, it can punish an opponent's aggression too, which shifts how worthwhile a Paper-type beetle is in a longer fight.

The same patch introduced insect jellies, consumable items usable up to two times per insect in a single battle that grant temporary combat effects. MINTROCKET's notes don't spell out every jelly's specific effect, but they're new enough (roughly two weeks old at the time of writing) that no guide written at the DLC's June 18 launch accounts for them at all, including most of the location-focused coverage still circulating. The same update also cleaned up the Beetle Battle results screen so the HP numbers that actually decided the win are easier to read at a glance.

Earlier patches touched the same system in smaller ways. A July 7, 2026 update fixed a bug where captured Atlas Beetles could fail to appear in what MINTROCKET's own notes call the "battle collection box," and separately fixed mouse-scroll behavior in something the patch notes name the "Insectpedia." That's a genuinely open question this guide won't paper over: MINTROCKET hasn't clarified whether Insectpedia is a distinct menu from the main Insectagram app icon or just an internal name for one of its screens. Both terms appear in official patch notes, and until MINTROCKET says otherwise, treat them as the same underlying system referred to two different ways rather than two separate trackers.

GODEEPER: Udo isn't just the NPC who unlocks this system, he's also one of nine hireable Bancho Grill staff, and his hire condition ties directly back to your Insectagram progress. Dave the Diver Jungle Staff Guide: All 9 Unlocks →

Where to find insects: the DLC's five collection zones

Insects and beetles spawn across five named areas: Utara Village, the Sand Dunes, Setah Forest, Surga Falls, and Murau Temple. None of these are exclusive in the sense of having a completely unique roster; species overlap between zones, and several only appear under specific conditions tied to time of day or weather rather than just location. A single walkthrough of one zone won't clear it, plan on returning at different times if the Insectagram shows gaps after your first pass.

The full chapter walkthrough covers when Setah Forest and the later areas actually open up story-wise, since Murau Temple and parts of Setah Forest are gated behind progress you won't have in the DLC's first couple of hours. Utara Village and the Sand Dunes are accessible earliest and are the most practical place to start once the Bug Net is in hand.

Utara Village sits at the edge of the dense jungle terrain where the DLC's insects, including the beetle that triggers The Torn Bug Net, actually spawn.

A dedicated fan wiki's itemized catch list is the clearest breakdown available: 12 butterfly species, 2 moths, 4 other insects (the Takua Cicada, Stick Insect, Diving Beetle, and Firefly), and 18 stag or rhinoceros beetle species, for 34 entries that count toward the Insectagram's completion percentage. On top of that sit three bonus catches outside the percentage tracker: a rain-only Snail, the Flamecrest Stag Beetle (unlocked once you hit 50% completion), and the Golden Tiger Beetle (the collection's final entry, gated behind 100%). That's 37 total, noticeably more specific than the "about 30" figure that shows up in most location-only guides, which generally don't distinguish the percentage-tracked entries from the bonus ones.

The 50% threshold for Flamecrest lines up with something our own staff guide already documented independently: Udo becomes hireable at Bancho Grill through a sub mission called "A Giant Stag Beetle?" once the Insectagram hits that same 50% mark. Two separately researched sources landing on the identical threshold, for what's almost certainly the same giant stag beetle encounter, is strong enough agreement to treat as confirmed rather than coincidence.

Tips for filling out the Insectagram faster

Mute the insect radar once you know the routine. The Insectagram's audio cue (officially named the "insect radar" in MINTROCKET's own patch notes) beeps when Dave is near something uncaught. Useful early on, genuinely annoying once you've memorized a zone's layout. The toggle lives inside the app itself.

Build a beetle roster before you need it. Beetle Battles get harder to win with a single starter beetle. Between wild catches and Udo's three-per-day shop limit, there's no reason to walk into a fight against a high-HP wild beetle with the same Lesser Stag Beetle Udo gave you at the start.

Don't skip the Sand Dunes early. It's one of the two zones open from the very start, alongside Utara Village, and several guides undersell it relative to the later, story-gated areas. If you're only netting insects in the village, you're missing species that only turn up there.

Save insect jellies for beetles you're likely to lose against. Each jelly can only be used twice per insect per battle, so using one against an easy Lesser Stag Beetle fight is a worse trade than saving it for one of the two 18-beetle roster's tougher, later entries.

Track your percentage, not just your catch count. Since only 34 of the 37 total entries move the Insectagram's completion bar, checking raw catch count against a "37" mental target will make the meter look stuck even when you're making real progress. Watch the percentage instead.

GODEEPER: Beetle catching is one system among several new to the DLC's opening hours. If you're just starting out, the broader priority list covers the Jungle Gun, Bancho Grill, and village relationships too. Dave the Diver In the Jungle Guide: 9 Essential Tips →

Common mistakes new collectors make

Trying to net a beetle directly. This is the mistake the game itself is designed around; attempting to catch that first exclamation-marked beetle with the plain Bug Net is what tears it and starts The Torn Bug Net quest. It's not a bug on your end, it's the intended way the game introduces Beetle Battles.

Assuming the "about 30 species" figure other guides cite is the full picture. It undercounts by roughly 7 entries and, more importantly, doesn't distinguish the 34 percentage-tracked catches from the 3 bonus ones. If you're chasing 100%, know which number you're actually chasing.

Ignoring Udo's shop because it feels like "buying the achievement." Three purchases a day isn't a huge boost, but it's a legitimate way to fill gaps in a roster that's otherwise gated by RNG spawn conditions. There's no in-game penalty for using it.

Rushing the main story past the point where Insectagram gating matters. Both Udo (staff hire) and Sato, per the staff guide, have unlock conditions tied to app completion percentages rather than pure story missions. If you're not touching the collection systems at all, you're delaying hires without realizing why.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many insects are in Dave the Diver's Insectagram? 37, per a dedicated fan wiki's itemized list: 34 regular catches that count toward the completion percentage, plus a rain-only Snail and two quest beetles (Flamecrest at 50%, Golden Tiger at 100%) that sit outside it. Most guides round this to about 30.

How do you get the Bug Net in Dave the Diver: In the Jungle? During Lipah's Fireflies, an early Utara Village sub mission. Lipah asks you to catch three fireflies and hands you the net on the spot since you have none. Community guides place this around Chapter 2.

Can you catch beetles with the Bug Net? No. Stag and rhinoceros beetles have to be weakened and beaten in a Beetle Battle first; the net only works on butterflies, moths, and the DLC's other flying or crawling insects.

How do Beetle Battles work? A rock-paper-scissors exchange where each beetle has HP, an attack stat, and a Rock, Paper, or Scissors type that boosts its own move. Reduce the wild beetle's HP to zero to catch it.

What does the Insectagram app do? It logs every catch, shows how many entries remain, and pings an audio cue (the insect radar) when Dave is near something uncaught. The cue can be muted from inside the app.

Where do you find insects in the jungle DLC? Five named areas: Utara Village, the Sand Dunes, Setah Forest, Surga Falls, and Murau Temple. Species and spawn conditions vary by area, so a single sweep rarely nets everything.

What did the August 6 patch change about Beetle Battles? MINTROCKET added insect jellies, consumable items usable twice per insect per battle for temporary combat effects, and changed Paper's block to deal damage back to the opponent instead of only healing.

Related Reading

• Dave the Diver Jungle Fish Guide: 50+ Species by Zone: the confirmed fish roster across Utara Lake, the DLC's other big collection system.
• Dave the Diver Sulong Boss Guide: How to Win the Hunt: the Vegetation Cave crocodile fight, attack patterns, and weak points for the DLC's other major boss.
• Dave the Diver Villager Gifts: All 23 Favorites (2026): every villager's favorite gift and the fastest daily routine to raise friendship.
• Dave the Diver In the Jungle DLC: Out June 18 With 10 Hours: the original launch announcement, price, and physical edition details.
• Dave the Diver Jungle DLC Achievements: There Are None: why Insectagram progress won't move your Steam completion percentage either way.

References

• DAVE THE DIVER on Steam: base game store page, appid 1868140, $19.99
• DAVE THE DIVER: In the Jungle Content Pack on Steam: DLC store page, appid 4394810, $9.99, launched June 18, 2026
• MINTROCKET official patch notes (Steam News Hub): source for the August 6, 2026 insect jelly and Paper-block changes, and the June 25 and July 7 fixes referenced above
• DAVE THE DIVER: In the Jungle - All 37 Insects: the itemized species list and the 34/37 completion-percentage breakdown used in this guide
• DAVE THE DIVER: In the Jungle - Golden Tiger Beetle Boss Fight | Final Insectagram Entry: community gameplay video showing the 100%-completion beetle encounter