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
ReactDebugCurrentStack.current = null;
    }
  },
  receiveComponent: function(nextElement, transaction, nextContext) {
    var prevElement = this._currentElement;
    var prevContext = this._context;
    this._pendingElement = null;
    this.updateComponent(
      transaction,
      prevElement,
      nextElement,
      prevContext,
      nextContext,
    );
  },
  /**
   * If any of `_pendingElement`, `_pendingStateQueue`, or `_pendingForceUpdate`
   * is set, update the component.
   *
   * @param {ReactReconcileTransaction} transaction
   * @internal
   */
  performUpdateIfNecessary: function(transaction) {
    if (this._pendingElement != null) {
      ReactReconciler.receiveComponent(
        this,
        this._pendingElement,
        transaction,
        this._context,
      );