On the Hawaiian island of Kauai, a parasitic fly finds male... | SAT Inferences Question, Answer Explained

Reading and Writing · Information and IdeasHard

On the Hawaiian island of Kauai, a parasitic fly finds male field crickets by homing in on their songs and then deposits larvae that kill the cricket. Within about twenty generations of the fly's arrival, most male crickets on Kauai had wings that could no longer produce sound. Silent males cannot attract females by singing, but researchers observed them gathering near the few remaining singing males and approaching females drawn to those songs. This behavior suggests that silent males ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

are more successful at attracting females than singing males are.

benefit from the presence of singing males, even though singing makes those males targets for the fly.

will regain the ability to sing once the fly population declines.

can detect the parasitic flies and avoid them.

Show answer and explanation

Answer: B

Silent males cannot sing, so they rely on the songs of the few males that still sing, approaching the females those songs attract. Meanwhile, singing is what exposes those males to the fly. So silent males gain from singers who take the risk, choice B.

Choice A overreaches: the text says silent males approach some females, but it never compares their success with that of singing males.

Why the other choices are wrong

A. The text does not compare the mating success of silent and singing males. It only notes that silent males approach females attracted to singers, without stating they are more successful.
C. The passage provides no information about the silent males regaining their ability to sing. It focuses on their current behavior of relying on singing males to attract females.
D. The text does not mention silent males detecting or avoiding the parasitic flies. It explains that their silence is a result of wing changes, not an active avoidance strategy.

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