Paul Valentich-Scott; Charles L. Powell; II; Thomas D. Lorenson; Brian E. Edwards

“ Although we cannot be certain that Wallerconcha sarae is extinct, we have used associated specimens to determine the potential age of the deposits where it was collected. The planktic foraminiferan Neogloboquadrina pachyderma ( [30] ) , a species that has been extinct for 1.8 million years, was collected from the base of the same cores as Wallerconcha sarae at the same depth as the holotype specimen (4.65 mbsf) , thus indicating an early Pleistocene age ( [31] ) . ”

“ There are also similarities between Wallerconcha sarae and members of the genus Spinaxinus Oliver & Holmes, 2006. However, all of the currently described species in this genus have a minutely spinose periostracum. The eastern Atlantic Spinaxinus sentosus (Figures 4A–D) is less inflated than Wallerconcha sarae, has narrower beaks, and a smaller anterior adductor muscle scar (Figure 7C) . Spinaxinus emicatus Oliver in [15] , from the Gulf of Mexico is compressed and circular in outline, has narrow beaks, an evident radial sulcus, and a much shorter nymph when compared to Wallerconcha sarae. ”

“ One of these cores was collected on a mound previously identified on seismic records. Bivalve mollusk specimens were collected in some of these samples and have provided the material for this paper.
Geologic setting
The informally named “Canning Seafloor Mound” ( [1] ; hereafter referred to as the Canning Seafloor Mound) , a probable cold seep, overlies the crest of a buried anticline in a region of sub-parallel compressional folds beneath the eastern Beaufort Sea outer slope. The collecting locality is adjacent to the frontier oil and gas regions offshore of Prudhoe Bay. ”