2006 Annual Report 4d.Progress report. This report serves to document research conducted under a reimbursable agreement between ARS and APHIS. Additional details of research can be found in the report for the parent CRIS 6615-22000-022-00D, Biological Techniques to Limit the Dispersal of Invasive Pests. APHIS provided an additional $125,000 this year for a cooperative research program with ARS-Tallahassee to increase detection efforts and help conduct the field validation test of the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT). Evaluation and modification of the monitoring technology was conducted of the insect trap baited with an experimental female sex pheromone. This research has lead to an improved trap that is being used to evaluate the spread of this invasive species from its current range. Over the past two years, the moth has not spread further west from its known location on Dauphin Island, AL. In addition, the improved trap is used in the SIT validation project to evaluate the occurrence and seasonality of the invasive moth, both wild and released individuals. The SIT validation study continued for a second year at sites along the Florida panhandle and southern Alabama. Year-long sanitation efforts (removal of infested pads and cactus moth eggsticks, larvae, and pupae) reduced the population of wild moths, but were not enough to keep the moth population from rebounding. However, sanitation and the release of sterile insects substantially reduced the population of wild cactus moths. Sterile insects released in the wild were shown to be highly competitive against wild moths. Competitiveness was evaluated for males by their recapture rate in the improved monitoring traps and the proportion of sterile eggsticks produced as a result of sterile males mating with wild females. Wild moth populations were drastically reduced in areas where sterile insects have been released for the past 1.5 years. Substantial population reduction was measured this year in areas that received sterile insects for only the first two of three wild moth generations. Sterile cactus moths will continue to be released and evaluated at the SIT validation sites throughout this fiscal year.