The reproductive system and sexual maturation in Dociostaurus maroccanus (Thunberg) (Orthoptera: Acrididae) were studied by dissecting males and females. The number of ovarioles per ovary ranged between 31 and 36: the closer a female is to the gregarious phase, as indicated by the ratio between the length of tegmen and the hind femur, the larger the number of ovarioles. Changes in the length of terminal oocyte and of body weight are associated with maturation of females, as revealed by the high correlation between these two parameters until the first oviposition in both field-collected and laboratory-reared females. Using these criteria, field samples of females were classified into nine categories, which correspond to the first three gonadotrophic cycles. Among field-collected D. maroccanus females, the number of corpora lutea per ovariole provides a good estimate of the number of egg pods laid per female. None of the field-collected females showed more than 2 corpora lutea.

The male genitalia are composed of a pair of testes, enclosed within a common sheath, with about 60 follicles, 15 pairs of accessory glands and one pair of seminal vesicles. Spermatogenic activity within the testicular follicles was studied by histological analysis. Spermatogonia divide mitotically throughout nymphal and adult life. Meiosis I is first observed in the third instar and spermiogenesis begins late in the fifth instar, being finished at adult emergence, at which time fully formed spermatozoa are observed. The number of sperm ultimately produced by a cyst was 64. Increasing body weight of males is proposed as a “marker” of sexual maturation since the presence of sperm in the seminal vesicle was not detected in any (>120) dissected males before they reached their basic weight, 7–10 days after emergence. This work provides simple criteria for assessing the maturation of D. maroccanus females and males and the realised reproductive potential of the species under field conditions.