October 1992 LSAT Section 2 Question 12

By dating fossils of pollen and beetles, which returned after an Ice Age glacier left an area, it is possible to esta...

Reide100 on September 3, 2022

Why E?

I'm a little confused as to why E wouldn't resolve the paradox. It seems that if Beetles are older than many warm-weather plants, then the researchers could conclude that the beetles found at the site moved in immediately after the glacier but before the warm-weather plants evolved. This would explain why the beetle fossils indicate an earlier warming than the plants, resolving the paradox. Thank you in advance for your help with this!

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Emil-Kunkin on September 6, 2022

Hi Reide100,

E is talking about the age of the species- as in when they evolved. This is different from the ages of specimens that were found in a specific place and time. We could have a recent specimen of an old species, or a relatively old specimen of a relatively less old species. Since we can safely assume that all relevant species had evolved by the time in question, E is not really relevant to the paradox.