In 1986, Jaime Eduardo Powell, concluding that "Titanosaurus australis" was less similar than "Laplatasaurus araukanicus" to "Titanosaurus indicus", named a separate genus: "Neuquensaurus". However, he did so in an unpublished dissertation which caused "Neuquensaurus australis" and "Neuquensaurus robustus" to remain invalid "nomina ex dissertatione". In 1990, the two species were assigned to "Saltasaurus" by John Stanton McIntosh, as a "Saltasaurus australis" and a "Saltasaurus robustus", claiming that the features found by Bonaparte were not of sufficient taxonomic importance to justify a generic separation.