The shell is pale brown (light horn) in color; the exterior surface of the peristome is yellowish and punctate.
In 1940 the American biologist Henry Augustus Pilsbry considered it to be a distinct species, and he also transferred it to the genus Triodopsis.
[5] This reclassification was not widely accepted however, and in 1974 Solem concluded that the available evidence did support full species status for this snail.
The flat-spired three-toothed snail is found only in West Virginia, among Upper Connoquenessing sandstone outcroppings and boulders, in a restricted area along the rim of the Cheat River gorge.
[8] Little is known about the life of this animal, but the West Virginia captive breeding program and past survey efforts have provided some information.
Optimum snail activity occur during spring and early summer, especially during cool, moist weather conditions when air temperatures are between 60 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit with relative humidity greater than 85 percent.
They can be found in cool, moist, deep fissures in shale, sandstone and limestone outcrops, and in talus.
The snail appears to prefer rock talus, but is also found in cliffline areas that contain deep, dark crevices.
Thus, heavy canopy cover may be more important on south and southwest facing slopes, in order to provide shade and humidity.
[9] Triodopsis platysayoides feeds on a varied diet of over 20 or so documented foods, including several aged leaves and flower blossoms, fresh catkins, fresh and aged pack rat feces, lichens, mushrooms and crickets.
[13] A captive colony of Triodopsis platysayoides laid small cluster of 3 to 5 eggs in the soil under the leaf litter in the spring and summer.
[6] Increasing numbers of the snail were noticed at Coopers Rock State Forest after the site was fenced to control human access.
Because of its limited range, this snail is especially vulnerable to natural or human-caused incidents that could destroy most, or even all, of its populations.
[13] Human activities such as logging, housing developments, and forest fires can all alter the environmental conditions that the flat-spired three-toothed snail needs to survive.
Additionally, they are working with private landowners to encourage protection of the snail by designing special timber management guidelines.
Fish and Wildlife Service, are all sharing the effort to prevent the flat-spired three-toothed snail from sliding into extinction.