The evolutionary status of the chemically peculiar class of {lambda} Boo stars has been intensely debated. It is now agreed that the {lambda} Boo phenomenon affects A stars of all ages, from star formation to the terminal age main sequence, but the cause of the chemical peculiarity is still a puzzle. We revisit the debate of their ages and temperatures in order to shed light on the phenomenon, using the new parallaxes in Gaia Data Release 1 with existing Hipparcos parallaxes and multicolour photometry. We find that no single formation mechanism is able to explain all the observations, and suggest that there are multiple channels producing {lambda} Boo spectra. The relative importance of these channels varies with age, temperature and environment.

Cone search capability for table J/MNRAS/466/546/table1 (Parameters for the 172 {lambda} Boo stars and candidates considered in this work, with Hipparcos or Gaia parallaxes)