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
inst.updater = updateQueue;
    this._instance = inst;
    
    ReactInstanceMap.set(inst, this);
    if (__DEV__) {
      
      
      
      warning(
        !inst.getInitialState ||
          inst.getInitialState.isReactClassApproved ||
          inst.state,
        'getInitialState was defined on %s, a plain JavaScript class. ' +
          'This is only supported for classes created using React.createClass. ' +
          'Did you mean to define a state property instead?',
        this.getName() || 'a component',
      );
      warning(
        !inst.getDefaultProps || inst.getDefaultProps.isReactClassApproved,
        'getDefaultProps was defined on %s, a plain JavaScript class. ' +
          'This is only supported for classes created using React.createClass. ' +
          'Use a static property to define defaultProps instead.',
        this.getName() || 'a component',
      );
      warning(
        !inst.propTypes,
        'propTypes was defined as an instance property on %s. Use a static ' +
          'property to define propTypes instead.',
        this.getName() || 'a component',
      );