Ecology
The leaves of Roystonea regia are used as roosting sites by Eumops floridanus, the Florida bonneted bat, and is used as a retreat for Cuban tree frogs (Osteopilus septentriolalis), a non-native species, in Florida. In Panama (where R. regia is introduced), its trunks are used as nesting sites by Yellow-crowned parrots (Amazona ochrocephala panamensis). The flowers of R. regia are visited by pollen-collecting bees and are considered a good source of nectar. Its pollen was also found in the stomachs of Phyllonycteris poeyi, the Cuban Flower Bat (a pollen-feeder) and Monophyllus redmani, Leach's Single Leaf Bat (a nectar-feeder). Artibeus jamaicensis, the Jamaican fruit bat, and Myiozetetes similis, the Social Flycatcher, feed on the fruit.
Roystonea regia is the host plant for the royal palm bug, Xylastodoris luteolus, in Florida. It also serves as a larval host plant for the butterflies Pyrrhocalles antiqua orientis and Asbolis capucinus in Cuba, and Brassolis astyra and B. sophorae in Brazil. It is susceptible to bud rot caused by the oomycete Phytophthora palmivora and by the fungus Thielaviopsis paradoxa.
The species is considered an invasive species in secondary forest in Panama.
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