This is comparison of habitants of other creatures with the habitants of woodlice. not between the dry or wet lands.

E is comparatively better but it has woodlouse so
B it has woodlice

A-> crustaceans, A living organism, is compared to dry land. Incorrect comparison.
B-> crustaceans, A living organism, is compared to terrestrial habitat. Incorrect comparison.
C-> A plural living organism is compared to a plural living organism..KEEP IT
D-> Same as A
E-> You can not compare singular to plural. Plural to plural. Singular to singular..
BTW..I was not aware of what crustaceans means...examples guided me that they are some kind of living things...


I dont think the claim made by the book should be considered as long as you can eliminate 4 options by using Grammar rules...

pharmxanthan wrote:Unlike most other crustaceans, such as lobsters, crabs, and barnacles, dry land provides a terrestrial habitat for the woodlouse.

A)
B) a terrestrial habitat is the home of a woodlouse
C) woodlice live in a terrestrial habitat
D) dry land provides a terrestrial habitat for woodlice
E) the woodlouse lives in a dry, terrestrial habitat

[spoiler]OA C
The book states that the plural of woodlouse is woodlice, which is fine. But it also says that dry land and terrestrial habitat are redundant. But land can be dry or wet (like marshes). Is this claim of redundancy valid?[/spoiler]

Ok here's my take on this one.

We need to compare Apples to Apples (crustacean to woodlouse)

This rules out A, B and D

Down to C and E. The non underlined sentence uses the plural "crustaceans". Hence to maintain the structure of the sentnece we should use the plural of Woodlouse, i.e. woodlice .. Hence Our answer is C

Why bother about redundancy when the question does not really require you think from the angle of redundancy. Hope it helps.

PS: About your query whether dry, terrestrial habitat is redundant. I would have to say that the usage "dry, terrestrial habitat" is not redundant. Terrestrial means relating to land and Habitat means environment where an organism lives. So in effect Terrestrial habitat does not mean the same thing as a "Dry habitat". Anyways, GMAT will not test you on your vocabulary or scientific knowledge, so if you find yourself wondering about such issue while solving questions it is a red flag, indicating that you are deviating from what the question demands.