The oribatid mite genus Kunstidamaeus (Damaeidae) is known from 17 species distributed in Europe and Asia. Based on adult and juvenile specimens, we propose K. arthurjacoti sp. nov. as the first Nearctic species. It occurs in the eastern and midwestern USA, as well as Ontario, Canada, in diverse habitats including prairie sod, fens, and leaf litter in forests (both deciduous and coniferous). The new species fits no established species group but mixes traits of European and Asian species, including a flagellate bothridial seta, longitudinally oriented, barbed notogastral setae, and a strongly bent spina adnata. Unique traits include medial displacement of the bothridium and notogastral setae, a hypertrophied tubercle of epimeral seta 1c which closely opposes an accentuated tooth on the podocephalic tectum, and a unique development of the famulus on tarsus I.