Aloft insect guide: Types, locations, and resources

Insects add to the overall environment in Aloft, but they can also help you with crafting. Whether you need insects to improve the health of an ecosystem or you’re foraging for honey, insects are essential little helpers. Here’s everything you need to know about finding, using, and crafting with insects.

How to find insects in Aloft

Locating insects is easy once you know where to look. You can find most insects resting on tree stumps on healthy islands. These tree stumps might come from recently chopped-down healthy trees or burnt stumps left behind by unknown events.

To collect an insect, approach the tree stump where the insect is sitting and press the E key to collect it. While Ladybugs and Blue Beetles look normal, Worms appear as gray blobs on tree stumps. It’s not a bug (pun intended), but it could very well be their placeholder model. Additionally, while some insect images are missing from the Field Guide, you can still find and collect most insects without issue. Some insects are just aesthetically in the game at the moment—their uses haven’t been implemented, and they can’t be caught or gathered.

Insect locations

Different biomes in Aloft are home to specific insect species. Use the table below to know where to find insects in Aloft:

These aren’t the only insects in the game. According to the item codes, which you can input into the Command Console to get various items, these other insects exist in Aloft and can be procured by players, even if they don’t have an in-game use yet:

• Firefly
• Luna Green Moth
• Orange Butterfly
• Pale Blue Moth
• Pale Orange Moth
• Pink Butterfly
• Purple Moth
• White Butterfly
• White Moth

These insects will likely be properly implemented into the game later with a way to catch and release them on other islands.

If you’re struggling to complete ecosystems in the Red Cliffs biome that need insects, other players in the community Discord have had success using Worms and Horned Beetles.

Adding insects to islands

If an island’s ecosystem is suffering due to a lack of insects, you can restore balance by introducing them. Here’s how to do it:

1. Open your inventory with the I key and click the Miscellaneous tab (the last tab on the left side of your screen).
2. Hover over the insect you want to release into the island’s ecosystem.
3. Press and hold the F key to release the insect.

To avoid wasting resources, check the Insect Diversity section in your Field Guide (on the second page). For example, if it says 1/0, it means there’s one insect present on the island, but the island doesn’t require any to thrive. You can take the insects from these islands without harming them, giving you an insect you can relocate onto an island that needs one.

Resources and crafting with insects

Only one insect directly contributes to resource gathering at the moment: the humble bee. Beehives on Fallen Heights islands yield both honey and wax (as well as bees). You can collect these resources from the yellow-orange hives on some tree trunks.

Wax and honey can both be used to craft items in Aloft:

You can then go on to use Waxed Rope in several more recipes, especially in the creation of Bone tools. See our full list of crafting recipes in Aloft to learn each individual recipe. You won’t be able to craft any items from the Building menu until you have the recipe, but you can make Waxed Rope and Wool Bandages without knowing the recipe in advance.

If you happen to have a Worm spare, you can use it to make a Worm Box once you have the recipe from a Knowledge Stone. Once crafted, you can place the Worm Box next to a Compost Bin to generate more worms, making it easier to support unhealthy islands. To craft a Worm Box, you’ll need:

• 5 Wood
• 3 Stone
• 2 Rope
• 5 Compost
• 1 Worm

That’s everything you need to know about insects in Aloft at the moment. As the game develops, we’ll add to this guide.