The malaria-carrying mosquito Anopheles gambiae is one of a group

Species spell same for both Plural and singular

1) "That" after species is referring to plural species and verb for the subject "That" shall be plural - we can Eliminate B
2) Present continuous tense is not appropriate as we are discussing fact/ Trait not an ongoing action; Hence we can also eliminate D

A/E are same
Subject of the first/Main clause is singular i.e "Anopheles gambiae"
In c subject of the 2nd clause is also subject of the first clause i.e "Anopheles gambiae" and second clause reads : Anopheles gambiae differ in where Species(Plural) live and which hosts Species(Plural) bite.

I am not sure whether I am correct, but we should have singular pronouns to refer to Anopheles gambiae in the second clause of C and also in modifiers for A and E - Anopheles gambiae differ in where it lives and which hosts it bites - / differing in where it lives and which hosts it bites

zhanbo can you please share your thoughts

In C:
The malaria-carrying mosquito Anopheles gambiae is one of a group of seven species that look almost exactly alike, but differ in where they live and which hosts they bite.

That introduces just one relative clause: "that" functions as the single subject in the relative clause. "That" refers to "seven species".
> These seven species look almost exactly alike.
> These seven species differ in where they live and which hosts they bite.

In the relative clause, verbs "look" and ”differ" combine to serve as the predicate for the subject. The comma before "but" should be removed. This is the only issue I have with this option.

If another subject is introduced after "but", the comma before "but" is needed to construct a coordinate sentence with FANBOYS.

IMO C


I would prefer the But ____ and _____ construction since it shows the contrast more than the "ing" Differing in A which refers back to the entire previous clause...

Not so sure on this one ..


B) that looks almost exactly alike, but differ in where they live and which hosts they bite. - Subject Verb Error.

C seems to be the most appropriate choice as it shows contrast and is parallel as well.

zhanbo and others: I have edited the question. Options A and E are no longer identical. In my source, the options are identical.
Thanks for the heads up.

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P.S. I also edited other options. My eyes are a bit cranky and uncooperative. The question looks fine to me now.

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C in my opinion.

Error Pre-thinking: 7 species is the subject; therefore, it should be look (plural) rather than looks

Eliminate B &D

E is run-on sentence and need to be joined by a FANBOY. Eliminate E

A & C are left. It was a bit confusing. C is the correct answer as it introduces a contrast that reflects the true meaning of the sentence

GMATNinja generis can you please explain this question ?

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