Nutrition
Inflectarius downieanus is a part of the Class Gastropoda. In the Class Gastropoda it contains over 40,000 species which includes snails. There isn't much information on the species Inflectarius downieanus itself but we can assume that it eats about the same things as other species that are in the Class Gastropoda.
*Not Inflectarius downieanus
Snails are
herbivores (BioExpedition, 2012). They eat different
things that are found around their habitat. That includes
things like plants, decaying plants, seaweed, algae, and
sometimes when it is hard to find food they may eat dirt (BioExpedition,
2012).
When snails are looking for food they don't move around as much
like other animals. They have a sensory called
olfaction, which is used in order to find and move to the food (NatureServe,
2012). Snails need food that has a lot of calcium (BioExpedition,
2012). Calcium helps make their shells harder so that they
could protect themselves when they are in danger (BioExpedition,
2012).
During the colder months Snails consume more food and store up
fat reserves so that they could live on while hibernating (BioExpedition,
2012). Also when there isn't much food around they could go into
hibernation which allows them to conserve energy and survive
through harsh weather or environments (BioExpedition, 2012).
One way they use to get their food is by a structure called the
radula (Hickman Jr., 2009). The radula helps scrape and tear at
food that they come across (Hickman Jr., 2009). If snails ever
come in contact with foods that contain salt or sugar, it could
harm them and even die (BioExpedition, 2012).