Researchers have mapped the complete genome of the centipede, an achievement that should provide more clues about how life evolved on our planet.

"Strigamia maritime" or the European centipede possesses some 15,000 genes, which is only a third of a human's 22,000 genes.

Centipedes belong to the animal group called arthropods that include spiders, insects and crustaceans. Also included are millipedes that are classified as myriapods and the only arthropod class whose genome hasn't yet been sequenced.

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Researchers the centipede's genes that weren't mapped the first time but were identified this time around were far more interesting than the ones previously mapped.

Strigamia maritime seems to have lost genes supposed to encode the light receptors these insects use. Also missing from the centipede's genes were genes controlling their circadian rhythm, or body clock.

Centipedes live underground and have no eyes to see with, that's why it's not that surprising some of the light receptors are missing, said Michael Akam from the University of Cambridge.

Centipedes also seem to like hiding from any light source, meaning there must be some way they can detect light when exposed to it. Centipedes also lack a body clock and this remains an enigma to scientists.

These genetic findings are pivotal in providing clues about the animals' evolutionary transition from aquatic to land dwellers, according to study co-author Ariel Chipman from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Science.

These findings will hopefully shed light on how centipedes and millepedes adapted from the water to live on land; how they evolves to breathe air and, in the long run, how to better understand how humans evolved.

These findings are detailed in the journal, PLOS Biology.

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