The painted spider spins webs that are much stickier than the webs spun by the other species of spiders that share th...
Jessica-BerrymanJuly 8, 2020
Please explain, I need further explanation on why D over A?
When I reviewed the answer choices, I viewed D as a trick answer because it was relying on assumptions that you can't necessarily make.
Answer choice D provides that "Stickier webs reflect more light, and so are more visible to insects, than are less-sticky webs."
I thought that just because the web is more visible to insects, that doesn't give me any information on whether insects will be more or less attracted to the web.
Maybe a higher visibility would actually attract insects to the web, because of the possibility that the painter spider can sow intricate web designs that disguise it as something appealing to insects? Or insects are rather attracted to the smell of the web and sight has nothing to do with it?
I still thought answer choice A was a weak choice, but my reasoning above for eliminating D is what brought me to choose A. Answer choice A at least provided some kind of evidence to show that not all insects will stick to the web through flight.
I know I am probably way over-thinking this, but I unfortunately find myself second-guessing some stimulus questions because they rely on odd assumptions that I am not quick to accept (Such in this case, the assumption that insects rely on sight to avoid webs-- I don't think this is common knowledge but it immediately seems right).
So, if you could explain to me why my approach to the answer choices is wrong and how to fix this, that would be great! Thanks!
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Thanks for the question! So let’s review this stimulus real quick. We’re told that the painted spider spins webs that are stickier, and thus more efficient at trapping insects than other spider webs. And this is how spiders prey on insects, so the argument concludes that the spider is a more successful predator than competitors.
Now we’re looking for something that’ll weaken the argument. (A) tells us that not all of the species of insects living in the painted spider’s habitat are flying ones. But does (A) weaken the argument? The exact flying vs. non-flying doesn’t matter here; just because there’s one species of insect that’s not a flying insect in the area (which would make (A) true) doesn’t mean that the painted spider isn’t a more successful predator. After all, the spiders are competing over the flying insects to get trapped, it doesn’t matter if they’re 100% of the total insects or less.
(D), on the other hand, definitely weakens the argument because the stickier webs are more visible. And if the webs are more visible, it means they’re easier to avoid (this isn’t a crazy assumption we have to make, it’s pretty logical). And this weakens the idea that the painted spider is a more effective predator because more insects might be avoiding its webs. Thinking about the possibilities that you thought out is doing a bit much, the assumptions that would make (D) a bad answer are way bigger assumptions than the ones that would make (A) a bad answer.
Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.
