When creating an Element with a ref from inside of a constructor an error is thrown in production mode, but not in dev mode.

Here is a minimal sample:
https://jsfiddle.net/84v837e9/35/

An error, "Only a ReactOwner can have refs", should happen in dev and production modes.

This is happening in React 15.4
var debugID = 0;
    if (__DEV__) {
      debugID = this._debugID;
    }
    var markup = ReactReconciler.mountComponent(
      child,
      transaction,
      hostParent,
      hostContainerInfo,
      this._processChildContext(context),
      debugID,
    );
    if (__DEV__) {
      if (debugID !== 0) {
        var childDebugIDs = child._debugID !== 0 ? [child._debugID] : [];
        ReactInstrumentation.debugTool.onSetChildren(debugID, childDebugIDs);
      }
    }
    return markup;
  },
  getHostNode: function() {
    return ReactReconciler.getHostNode(this._renderedComponent);
  },
  /**
   * Releases any resources allocated by `mountComponent`.
   *
   * @final
   * @internal
   */
  unmountComponent: function(safely, skipLifecycle) {