Dear Clay,

CC> It seems, though, that I saw at one point another text
CC> that spoke specifically about the role of the opinions of elder monks in
CC> recognizing an otherwise unidentified teaching, but after a bit of
CC> looking around I couldn't locate it.

Well, in the Four Great References (catumahaapadesa) elders are
mentioned.

I attach the text from http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/digha/dn16.html
Unfortunately, being abridged, this translation misses some nuances.

8-11. Then the Blessed One said: "In this fashion, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu
might speak: 'Face to face with the Blessed One, brethren, I have
heard and learned thus: This is the Dhamma and the Discipline, the
Master's Dispensation'; or: 'In an abode of such and such a name lives
a community with elders and a chief. Face to face with that community,
I have heard and learned thus: This is the Dhamma and the Discipline,
the Master's Dispensation'; or: 'In an abode of such and such a name
live several bhikkhus who are elders, who are learned, who have
accomplished their course, who are preservers of the Dhamma, the
Discipline, and the Summaries. Face to face with those elders, I have
heard and learned thus: This is the Dhamma and the Discipline, the
Master's Dispensation'; or: 'In an abode of such and such a name lives
a single bhikkhu who is an elder, who is learned, who has accomplished
his course, who is a preserver of the Dhamma, the Discipline, and the
Summaries. Face to face with that elder, I have heard and learned
thus: This is the Dhamma and the Discipline, the Master's
Dispensation.'

"In such a case, bhikkhus, the declaration of such a bhikkhu is
neither to be received with approval nor with scorn. Without approval
and without scorn, but carefully studying the sentences word by word,
one should trace them in the Discourses and verify them by the
Discipline. If they are neither traceable in the Discourses nor
verifiable by the Discipline, one must conclude thus: 'Certainly, this
is not the Blessed One's utterance; this has been misunderstood by
that bhikkhu -- or by that community, or by those elders, or by that
elder.' In that way, bhikkhus, you should reject it. But if the
sentences concerned are traceable in the Discourses and verifiable by
the Discipline, then one must conclude thus: 'Certainly, this is the
Blessed One's utterance; this has been well understood by that bhikkhu
-- or by that community, or by those elders, or by that elder.' And in
that way, bhikkhus, you may accept it on the first, second, third, or
fourth reference. These, bhikkhus, are the four great references for
you to preserve."

With metta,
Dimitry