UPSC CIVIL SERVICES PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION

UPSC Prelims 2024— Question 79

2024General Studies Paper-IEnvironment & EcologyBiodiversitySpecies Diversitymoderate
Q79

Question

Consider the following: 1. Butterflies 2. Fish 3. Frogs. How many of the above have poisonous species among them?

Options

A
Only one
B
Only two
C
All three✓ Correct Answer
D
None
AnswerOption C

Explanation

The correct answer is option (C). Poisonous or toxic species occur among butterflies, fish and frogs. Examples include toxic monarch-related species and other chemically defended butterflies, poisonous or venomous fish, and poison-dart frogs. Therefore all three groups contain poisonous species. The key to this question is to distinguish the exact constitutional provision, factual association, scientific principle, or current-affairs detail being tested from statements that are partly true but incomplete or incorrectly framed. UPSC often makes the distractors plausible by changing one institutional role, date, classification, geographic association, or causal relationship. Option A — “Only one” is incorrect. It does not match the established fact or contains the incorrect combination, institution, relationship, classification, or proposition identified in the explanation above. Choosing it would therefore introduce a factual error or omit a necessary element. Option B — “Only two” is incorrect. It does not match the established fact or contains the incorrect combination, institution, relationship, classification, or proposition identified in the explanation above. Choosing it would therefore introduce a factual error or omit a necessary element. Option C — “All three” is correct. It matches the established fact described above and gives the complete combination or identification required by the question. Option D — “None” is incorrect. It does not match the established fact or contains the incorrect combination, institution, relationship, classification, or proposition identified in the explanation above. Choosing it would therefore introduce a factual error or omit a necessary element. For examination purposes, the safest approach is to verify each statement independently before looking at the answer-code combination. This is particularly important in statement-based questions, because one false clause makes an entire combination wrong. In factual questions, compare the defining characteristic asked in the stem with each alternative rather than relying on superficial familiarity. The answer recorded here follows the verified Set C key used for this database.

Question Classification

SubjectEnvironment & Ecology
TopicBiodiversity
SubtopicSpecies Diversity
Question TypeMatching / Multi-statement
Difficultymoderate
VerificationVerified