Self-study
During its caterpillar stage, the leopard magpie moth feeds on a plant called the Natal grass cycad and by so doing laces its body with macrozamin, a toxin that makes the moth highly unpalatable to would-be predators. █████ ███ █████ █████ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███ ██████ ███████████ ███ ███████ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████████
Summary
A particular type of moth is facing extinction, because a plant that helps the moth defend itself is facing extinction.
Notable Assumptions
The author has established why the plant is important for the moth, but there are a few assumptions. Among them:
1) Perhaps the moth can achieve this same defense another way.
2) Perhaps the moth has enough defenses besides toxicity that they won’t become endangered after losing this particular defense.
5.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████
a
Feeding on the █████ █████ █████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ██ █████ ███ ███████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ██████ ███████████ ██ ██████████
This is necessary, and matches one of our predictions. If the moth has other ways of deterring predators through taste, then this particular plant facing extinction does not support that the moth also faces extinction.
b
The leopard magpie ████ ████ ███ ████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████
The negation of (B) is only that the moth can escape from some of its predators; maybe all of them, but maybe only one of them. We don’t know how many, and so it’s still possible that they will need their toxicity defense when eaten.
c
Potential predators of ███ ███████ ██████ ████ ██████ █████████ ████ ██████████ █████ ███████ █ ████████ ████ ██ █████ ████ ███████████
If negated, the moth is more susceptible to extinction. We need negations to destroy the argument, not strengthen it.
d
Leopard magpie moths ███ ███ ████ ██ ██████ █████ █████ ██████ ██████ █████ ██████ ███ █████████
If negated, then the moth is able to locate the plant whether or not the plant is abundant, but this does not address the issue of the possible extinction of the plant. If the plant disappears, it doesn’t matter how good the moths are at finding it.
e
None of the █████████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████ ████ ████ █████████ █ █████████ ██ ███████████
The negation of (E) is “Some of the potential predators of the leopard magpie moth have developed a tolerance to macrozamin.” It doesn’t matter if some of them have; there can be enough predators without tolerance that the moth still needs the plant to survive.