Chlorotic ringspot symptoms were noted on Cuban royal palms (Roystonea regia) from two locations in south-east Queensland. A virus, provisionally named Roystonea palm virus (RoPV), was isolated from these plants. It was mechanically transmitted to Chenopodium amaranticolor, C. quinoa, Nicotiana benthamiana, N. clevelandii and Vicia faba in which it caused systemic infections and to Cucumis sativus and N. tabacum in which it caused only local lesions. The characteristics of RoPV were consistent with its classification as a potyvirus: i.e. transmission by the aphid Myzus persicae, flexuous rod-shaped particles approx. 740 nm long, positive reaction with the AGDlA potyvirus group monoclonal antibody and the presence of pinwheel inclusions and laminated aggregates in infected plant cells.