Getting messy - I can't imagine that there's much shared vocabulary between, say, mammals, insects, nematodes, sponges..., just to

take a few

groups from the "zoology vocabulary". And if you asked taxomomists in each

of

these fields to use a common vocab they'd complain about square pegs in round holes.

I'd say that the DELTA approach - of avoiding domain (i.e. zoology, virology, etc) specific notations in the format has worked well. And I think this is the level that any initial work should be pitched at.

i.e. the data format should encode taxonomic *data* - just as DELTA does. Any domain specific schema can be layered on top of this, or include it. Begin with capturing the relevant data just as DELTA does, and then progress from there.

This comes back to a point I believe I made before: if the current format(s) meet all the current and future requirements then theres no need to change things. If they don't then the work needs to focus on bridging the gap between the shortfall in requirements.

L.