Why does trapinch have greater attack power than vibrava?

Question

Trapinch's base attack power is 100 and vibrava's is 70. Why?

Comments

So according to trapinch dex all it does is sit in a sand hole at the bottom and wait for something to fall in as so I'm thinking that over time they have adapted to not needing anything but atk as there are other big bug types so all it needs is its jaw aka atk

This is why trapinch is my favorite pokemon

Answer 1

This is really one of the 'Gamefreak is god' questions. It's just one of the Pokemon with a higher stat than it's evolution :P
However Trapinch's description on Bulbapedia is
>Trapinch is an orange, insectoid Pokémon. It has a round body with a white underside and four stumpy legs. It has proportionally large head, small eyes, and a zigzagging mouth. Its large jaws are powerful enough to crush boulders.

Uber powerful o3o but fat. And slow

Vibrava's is
>Vibrava is a dragonfly-like Pokémon. It has a small head with two yellow antennae, and green bulging eyes with black pupils. It has a skinny yellow body, four skinny black legs with slender feet, and four green, rhombus-shaped wings with black edges. There are similarly-colored rhombus shapes at the end of its tail. Its wings are not fully developed, so it is unable to fly very far.

Skinnier and all of that, and with smaller size... comes weaker jaws. Lol. I don't know just making up illogical theories :3
Anyway Vibrava is a more balanced out Pokemon I suppose (Have you looked at it's Jaws? It's tiny compared to Trapinch) which is probably why It isn't as strong - so from that the lower attack stat.

Comments

"...with smaller size... comes weaker jaws."

Look up Piranhas.

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Ehh. they can defy the laws of KoD :3

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K.o.D.?

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King of Doughnuts.

Answer 2

Maybe because of Trapinch's massive jaws. It looks like they could inflict serious damage, and more than Vibrava's mouth could. But, this is largely a "because GameFreak wanted it that way" question.
The pokedex entries also support this somewhat:
>Trapinch's nest is a sloped, bowl-like pit dug in sand. This Pokémon patiently waits for prey to tumble down the pit. Its giant jaws have enough strength to crush even boulders.

-Pokemon Ruby Pokedex Entry for Trapinch

Compared to Vibrava:
>It generates ultrasonic waves by violently flapping its wings. After making its prey faint, it melts the prey with acid.

-Pokemon FireRed/LeafGreen Pokedex Entry for Vibrava

So it sounds like Vibraba just sucks up its pray, while Trapinch tears them apart, and so given their appearance and their behaviour it makes sense to give Trapinch a higher Attack stat.

Answer 3

Well, I could just say because Game Freak wanted it that way, but I'll throw my theory out here.

First of all, take a look at their sprites.

As you can see, Trapinch looks like it could really put the hurt on another Pokemon with those jaws. Vibrava loses those impressive jaws through evolution, and looks a little bit less dangerous and/or strong than Trapinch, which makes sense why its attack would lower.

Also, the Pokedex entries makes sense too.

TRAPINCH’s nest is a sloped, bowl-like pit dug in sand. This POKéMON patiently waits for prey to tumble down the pit. Its giant jaws have enough strength to crush even boulders

To make prey faint, VIBRAVA generates ultrasonic waves by vigorously making its two wings vibrate. This POKéMON’s ultrasonic waves are so powerful, they can bring on headaches in people.

~ Pokemon Ruby

So to simplify it, Trapinch crushes boulders and tears stuff apart, while Vibrava generates ultrasonic waves with its wings.

Also, there are plenty of examples of other Pokemon losing a few points in one stat through evolution such as Weedle ---> Kakuna (which makes sense too).

Hope this helps :)