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Plant-parasitic nematodes (PPNs) are important pests that cause an estimated ten billion dollars of crop loss each year in the United States and over 100 billion dollars globally. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) within the U.S. Department of Agriculture maintains and updates the U.S. Regulated Plant Pest list. Currently, the number of PPNs regulated by APHIS includes more than 60 different species. This review focuses on the top ten most economically important regulated and emerging plant-parasitic nematodes and summarizes the diagnostics of morphological and some molecular features for distinguishing them. These ten major previously described nematode species are associated with various economically important crops from around the world. This review also includes their current distribution in the U.S. and a brief historical background and updated systematic position of these species. The species included in this review include three PPNs considered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as invasive invertebrates <i>Globodera pallida</i>, <i>Globodera rostochiensis</i>, and <i>Heterodera glycines</i>; four regulated PPNs, namely <i>Bursaphelenchus xylophilus</i>, <i>Meloidogyne fallax</i>, <i>Ditylenchus dipsaci</i>, and <i>Pratylenchus fallax;</i> and the three emerging PPNs <i>Meloidogyne chitwoodi, Meloidogyne enterolobii</i>, and <i>Litylenchus crenatae mccannii</i>.