Taxonomic resources

The Delta taxonomic software

Background

The DELTA (DEscription Language for TAxonomy) format is a method for recording taxonomic data, developed by Michael Dallwitz and colleagues at the CSIRO ( Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) Division of Entomology beginning in 1971. The DELTA System is an integrated set of programs which use the DELTA format to generate various outputs (principally interactive keys, and linear keys and natural language descriptions). CSIRO provide a detailed account of the original Delta taxonomic programs and their capabilities; this page is a brief summary aimed at new users of ANNiKEY who want to get up and running with Delta as quickly as possible.

Installing the Delta suite of programs will install the Delta Editor (software for developing Delta data sets and applications) and Intkey (software for running interactive keys developed using the Delta Editor and integrated software). To run ANNiKEY only Intkey is required (the distributed ANNiKEY files cannot be opened in the Delta Editor).

Open Delta - installation on Windows

**NB**The instructions for installation on Windows were updated 31 October 2025 due to inconsistencies in the instructions on the Open Delta wiki, which point to files that no longer exist on their github repository page. Anyone who previously had problems is advised to try again using the following instructions.

The preferred software for running ANNiKEY is the Open Delta implementation (in Java, runs under Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems). This version was developed by the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) but is no longer available from their web pages. Instead the software can be downloaded from an ALA github repository. Go to the bottom of the github repository page and download the first .zip file 'open-delta-1.02-bin.zip' (or if java virtual machine software is already on your pc you can download the last .zip file 'open-delta-1.02-Installer-NOJRE.exe.zip'). After downloading the .zip file Move the file "open-delta-1.02-bin.zip" into whichever folder you want, then right click and select "Extract all". The files will be extracted into a new folder "open-delta-1.02-bin". Go to that folder, then go to "open-delta-1.02" inside that folder, then to the folder "bin". Right click on "Intkey.bat" and choose "Run". If your computer asks if you can trust that file, say yes. You should now have Intkey open and asking for you to select a data set.

Now download the ANNiKEY data set, Glasby CJ, Biriukova O, Martin P, Dyne GR, Utevsky S, Wilson RS (2025) ANNiKEY Interactive: a taxonomic information system for Annelida.https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13738485 and unzip into a new folder.

Go back to Intkey and in the box "Select name of initialisation file" browse to the folder where you put ANNiKEY. Open the file intkey.ini and you should be up and running with ANNiKEY running in Intkey.

Follow the same procedure to downlod and run other Delta data sets, such as:
Wilson RS, Glasby CJ, Bakken T (2023) A Taxonomic Information System for Nereididae (Annelida): morphological datasets supporting description, interactive identification and phylogenetic analysis of the family. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.

Open Delta - installation on macOS

Installing Open Delta on Windows and Linux computers following the instructions above is generally straightforward. However, we have become aware that installation of Open Delta on macOS may be problematic. The issue appears to be related to the prerequisite Java install, as noted on the Open Delta issues wiki. Apparently Open Delta can be made to work on macOS if a legacy version of Java is used. (It is possible that older Macs which have not had Java updates may circumvent this issue.) We will attempt to verify these solutions when we can get access to a Mac and will then provide updates here.

Other Delta software

  • CSIRO Delta
    • Development of the Delta software ceased at CSIRO in about 2000 but the Windows software developed up to that time is still available and is preferred by many users. Details including download links are available at www.delta-intkey.com.
  • Free Delta
    • Another implementation is the Free Delta system developed by Mauro J. Cavalcanti and other contributors. Free Delta includes a Delta Editor but no equivalent of the interactive key software Intkey, so at present Free Delta cannot be used to run ANNiKEY.

    Documentation

    Open Delta and CSIRO Delta versions of Intkey both include comprehensive Help menus. Online and pdf versions of the Intkey User's guide and other documentation, including definition of the Delta standard, are available at Mike Dallwitz's pages. An open access paper by Oliver Coleman and colleagues is also highly recommended:
    Coleman CO, Lowry JK, Macfarlane T (2010) DELTA for Beginners: An introduction into the taxonomy software package DELTA. ZooKeys 45: 1-75. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.45.263

    Other taxonomic software

    There are numerous other programs with functions useful for taxonomists, some of which can import Delta format data. Some are listed on the Free Delta page and on Mike Dallwitz's pages.

    We appreciate that some users, especially those using institutional computers, are unable or unwilling to install Delta Intkey. Our Illustrated glossary of annelid terms is an attempt to make some Delta data available in a web browser (with no additional software required). At present only character data are included. A future version could include taxon descriptions as well, although without the powerful interactive identification functions of Intkey. We would welcome feedback on whether this is a useful format (see 'About us' at the foot of this page for contact details).