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I have completed the grid but, even having 6 of the 8 misprints, still have no clue what's going on. Any hints gratefully received.

I have completed the grid as well, but figured out all the misprints. With 6 of the 8 you ought to be able to guess the word, and that may help you track down which clues held the other misprints. That's essentially what I did.

Where I am not sure is in the extra pairs. I don't see a message yet, so I think I must be missing a few. I can't parse 1d, so any hint there would be appreciated.

Brendan, I think jif73 means the second definition of the word "context."

And now having found all of the extra pairs, I see what Brendan means.

Correction. I meant I see what jif73 means.

Ahh! I see what you mean - thanks MPRS.

1d - Single letter abbr. of "group" + an anagram/"roving" of 20d - definition is a slang word for "eyes" - I was going to say that I'd be surprised if it was known outside the UK but I've just remembered hearing it in an episode of The Sopranos.

I had the entry, and, no, I had never heard it. Not a Sopranos fan though. Thanks, brendan.

candledave (#19), I suspect, like me, that you have the same Field Guide to the fauna in question which gives the same genus for six of the eight examples, making your explanation of "...two thematic in name only" correct.

My mistake was to double-check Chambers for those that have an entry. I found one listed with a different genus which is the cause of my confusion. (I always thought that the taxonomic name was to avoid confusion over different local names for a species — not the other way round!)

I was rather surprised to discover in the preamble that, in addition to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), there is also an Oxford Dictionary of English.
(I suppose that a Dictionary of Oxford English would be far too specialised to be profitable!)