The Keresta Formation, located in the Volgograd–Volga region (the Volga–Caspian subregion of southwest Russia) has been dated as Middle Eocene, Lutetian, based on dinoflagellate cysts of the Enneadocysta arcuata Zone and nannofossils from the Lutetian subzones CP13c–CP14a. Within this interval, four new species of dinoflagellate cysts are described: Spiniferella grigorovichiae sp. nov., Impagidinium tuberculatum sp. nov., Hystrichostrogylon crassitunicatum sp. nov. and Hystrichosphaeropsis tenerum sp. nov. The new species present a high correlation potential for Middle Eocene stratigraphy over the southern part of the Russian Platform. Also, the assemblage of organic-walled microphytoplankton from the Keresta Formation indicates warm-water marine environments within the marginal part of the Paratethys Basin.