2006 Annual Report 4d.Progress report. This report serves to document research conducted under a reimbursable agreement between ARS and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). Additional details of research can be found in the report for the parent project 6602-22000-035-00D, "Integrated Management Strategies Related To Insects For Established And Invasive Pest Species." Since its detection in south Florida in 1989, the cactus moth, Cactoblastis cactorum, has expanded its range north along the Atlantic Coast as far as Bull Island near Charleston, South Carolina, and west along the Gulf Coast as far as Dauphin Island, Alabama. Although prickly pear cactus has minor value as a food crop in the US, it has significant value as an ecological plant, adding to wildlife habitat, ecosystem structure and biodiversity in both developed and undeveloped areas. Additionally, further westward spread could lead into Mexico where prickly-pear cactus is a major agricultural commodity and has significantly larger socio-economic importance. We have partnered with scientists from the USDA, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and APHIS to develop and test synthetic lures, trapping protocols, an artificial diet and mass-rearing techniques, and control strategies using insecticides and sterile insect releases. As a result of our findings, USDA is currently using this technology to increase detection efforts and field test the sterile insect technique (SIT) as a possible means of establishing a barrier that would stop the cactus moth’s westward movement toward the US desert southwest and Mexico. The SIT evaluation involves three sites. The site along the leading edge (Dauphin Island, Alabama) is receiving sterile insects and a sanitation procedure, a second site is only being sanitized (Okaloosa Island, Florida), and a third site is being left unchanged (St. George Island, Florida). The sanitation procedure involves the removal of cactus pads infested with C. cactorum and removal of C. cactorum life stages (egg sticks, larvae, and pupae) on a year-long basis. During this evaluation, all sites are being evaluated for their level of C. cactorum infestation through trapping of adult males and collection of the various life stages on host plants. In addition, the extent of damage to Opuntia spp. is monitored at all sites with regular evaluations of marked sentinel plants. Release of sterile cactus moths began on Dauphin Island in April 2005, and releases were expanded during 2006 to include Little Dauphin Island and Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge at Fort Morgan. The combination of the SIT and sanitation has been very successful in reducing the cactus moth population on Dauphin Island to near non-detectable levels.