No ectopterygoid pterygoid not extending to quadrate; no supratemporal or squamosal; prefrontal forming a suture with nasal; coronoid present; vestiges of pelvis present.
Supra-angular and coronoid splint-bones serve for the insertion of part of the temporal or masseter muscle.
The coronoid process is slender, straight, and inclined backwards.
The lower jaw is characterized by its abruptly narrowed and rounded front part supporting the pair of large in cisors, as well as by the small size of the coronoid process, and the great development of the lower hind, or angular, portion.
The lower jaw is slender, nearly straight, 2-3 and without a coronoid process or inflected angle.
The mandible is toothed but has no coronoid bone.
The prefrontal bones are still in contact with the nasals as in the previous families, but the coronoid bones of the mandibles are absent as in the remaining families, and this loss also occurs in the Boine Charina.
The spiny mice, Acornys (or Acanthomys), of Western Asia, Cyprus and Africa, take their name from the fur being almost entirely replaced by flattened spines, and are further distinguished by the rudimentary coronoid process of the lower jaw.