Haematophagous dipterans of the Nematocera and Brachycera suborders have been objects of study for a better understanding of the behavioral mechanisms used by insects to find their blood meal. This is usually elicited by chemical stimuli (semiochemicals) called kairomones that are often released by the vertebrate hosts (Gibson & Torr 1999).Among the more than 500 species of the subfamily Phlebotominae that are known in the Americas, over 400 belong to the genus Lutzomyia (Young & Duncan 1994, Galati 2003. Lutzomyia longipalpis (Lutz and Neiva) and L. intermedia (Lutz and Neiva) play an important role in the transmission of leishmaniases (Forattini 1973, Lainson 1989, Lemos & Lima 2005. Host-preference studies of Lutzomyia spp. frequently use animals, such as chicken, dogs, horses (Quinnell et al. 1992, Ximenes et al. 1999, Bongiorno et al. 2003, and occasionally humans as bait (Quinnell et al. 1992, Aguiar et al. 1996, Rebollar-Telez et al. 1999, Pinto et al. 2001. Laboratory assays (e.g., precipitin test) have been used for the identification of hosts that provide the blood meal for the phlebotomine sand flies (Christensen et al. 1982, Afonso et al. 2005). CDC light traps (Sudia & Chamberlain 1962) and Shannon traps (Shannon 1939) have been used as tools for monitoring phlebotomine sand flies, thus eliminating the ethical problems associates with using human bait. However, some studies have shown that certain phlebotomine sand fly species are highly anthropophilic but rarely phototropic (Alexander et al. 1995, Travi et al. 1998, while other species seem to be more phototropic than antropophilic, such as Lutzomyia verrucarum Townsend (Davies et al. 1995). It is possible that these species are responsive to non-specific kairomones such as CO 2 (Quinnell et al. 1992, Campbell-Lendrum et al. 1999a, and can be attracted by different species of hosts. CO 2 is the main volatile kairomone released by vertebrates and it is used by most haematophagous insects to find their hosts (Eiras 2001). Knudsen et al. (1979) demonstrated for the first time the attractiveness of CO 2 (released from dry ice) to phlebotomine sand flies. Light traps (LT) baited with CO 2 enhanced the capture of phlebotomine sand flies in the field (Chaniots 1983), despite the fact that attraction to CO 2 was not observed in the laboratory (Nigam & Ward 1991).The chemical 1-octen-3-ol (octenol) is an important kairomone used by zoophilic dipteran species of the families Muscidae, Tabanidae, Ceratopogonidae and Culicidae to seek their hosts (Kline at al. 1990, Gibson & Torr 1999, Bernier et al. 2000, Eiras 2001). To date, there is no evidence supporting the trapping of phlebotomine sand flies with this kairomone. Lactic acid was the first kairomone identified from human skin (Acree et al. 1968), and its effect in attracting mosquitoes has been evaluated, especially in combination with CO 2 (Kline et al. 1990, Eiras & Jepson 1991, ammonia and some fatty acids (Geier et al. 1999). Ammonia was identified from vertebrate odors in the 1970s (Larson et al. 19...