Question

a soapberry bug uses its proboscis to suck up seeds from inside fruits. the bug can get seeds more easily if its proboscis is just the right length to reach from the fruit’s surface to the seeds inside. a bug with a longer proboscis is better at sucking up seeds that are farther inside fruits. a bug with a shorter proboscis is better at sucking up seeds that are closer to the surfaces of fruits. consider the population of soapberry bugs over the time period previously shown. over this time period, bugs with shorter proboscis lengths were less likely to survive and reproduce than bugs with longer proboscis lengths. this means that having a shorter proboscis length was less advantageous than having a longer proboscis length. complete the following statements to construct the explanation that is best supported by the information above. having a shorter proboscis length may have been less advantageous than having a longer proboscis length because there were dropdown seeds that bugs with shorter proboscis lengths could reach easily. this may have been because most of the fruits in the population’s environment had seeds dropdown their surfaces.

Explanation:

The statements are completed based on the given information about soapberry bug survival and reproduction, linking proboscis length advantage to seed position in fruits.

Answer:

1. Having a shorter proboscis length may have been less advantageous than having a longer proboscis length because there were fewer seeds that bugs with shorter proboscis lengths could reach easily. This may have been because most of the fruits in the population's environment had seeds farther from their surfaces.