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Parasitic wasps lay their eggs directly into the eggs of [#permalink]
 23 May 2006, 09:47
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Parasitic wasps lay their eggs directly into the eggs of various host insects in exactly the right numbers for any suitable size of host egg. If they laid too many eggs in a host egg, the developing wasp larvae would compete with each other to the death for nutrients and space. If too few eggs were laid, portions of the host egg would decay, killing the wasp larvae.
Which of the following conclusions can properly be drawn from the information above?
(A) The size of the smallest host egg that a wasp could theoretically parasitize can be determined from the wasp’s egg-laying behavior.
(B) Host insects lack any effective defenses against the form of predation practiced by parasitic wasps.
(C) Parasitic wasps learn from experience how many eggs to lay into the eggs of different host species.
(D) Failure to lay enough eggs would lead to the death of the developing wasp larvae more quickly than would laying too many eggs.
(E) Parasitic wasps use visual clues to calculate the size of a host egg.
This questions is kind of picky to me, any explanation or discussion on the above will be appreciated.
Thank you.
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The question is asking us to infer the best conclusion, meaning the one that follows most closely from the information we were supplied. The key is not to make too big of a jump.
First, can we eliminate any answers based on the paragraph?
(A) - sounds possible. we may be able to apply rules from the paragraph to estimate minimum size. I'd look for an answer that takes less of a jump though.
(B) - eliminate. may (or may not) be true, but the paragraph does not address host defenses at all.
(C) - seems obvious and not too risky to say. this is my answer.
(D) - eliminate. we have no way to measure the rate of death from the information supplied.
(E) - eliminate. the paragraph makes no mention of any methods wasps use to evaluate an egg.
Between (A) and (C), I'll go with (C).
--Matt
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I would pick A, since C implies that older wasps would lay more exact amount of eggs than younger. And this fact is not stated in the passage. Even more than that, the passage asserts that all wasps can do it equally well. So I would say that C contradicts the facts stated in the passage.
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Re: (CR) the developing wasp larvae [#permalink]
23 May 2006, 10:54
pretttyune wrote: Parasitic wasps lay their eggs directly into the eggs of various host insects in exactly the right numbers for any suitable size of host egg. If they laid too many eggs in a host egg, the developing wasp larvae would compete with each other to the death for nutrients and space. If too few eggs were laid, portions of the host egg would decay, killing the wasp larvae.
Which of the following conclusions can properly be drawn from the information above?
(A) The size of the smallest host egg that a wasp could theoretically parasitize can be determined from the wasp’s egg-laying behavior.
(B) Host insects lack any effective defenses against the form of predation practiced by parasitic wasps.
(C) Parasitic wasps learn from experience how many eggs to lay into the eggs of different host species.
(D) Failure to lay enough eggs would lead to the death of the developing wasp larvae more quickly than would laying too many eggs.
(E) Parasitic wasps use visual clues to calculate the size of a host egg.
This questions is kind of picky to me, any explanation or discussion on the above will be appreciated.
Thank you.
"A". The choice is between "A" and "C" but "C" is never mentioned in the argument. Who knows, the wasps have an inbuilt mechanism, such as something in the genes, that automatically allows wasps to pick the right size. In that case, "experience" would not matter.
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Current Student
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deowl wrote: I would pick A, since C implies that older wasps would lay more exact amount of eggs than younger. And this fact is not stated in the passage. Even more than that, the passage asserts that all wasps can do it equally well. So I would say that C contradicts the facts stated in the passage.
I'm with u on A. There is a definite correlation between size and the number of eggs, according to the text. I also like how A contains the word "theoretically".
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C for me.
"Parasitic wasps lay their eggs directly into the eggs of various host insects in exactly the right numbers for any suitable size of host egg."
This lines suggest that parasitic wasp know how much egg to lay for any size of egg.
How did they know this....... the obvious conclusion would be by experience.
Also A is a strong contender. But the above line also says....... they lay eggs in exactly the right numbers for any suitable size.
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