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 callbacks = this._pendingCallbacks;
    this._pendingCallbacks = null;
    var nextState = this._processPendingState(nextProps, nextContext);
    var shouldUpdate = true;
    if (!this._pendingForceUpdate) {
      var prevState = inst.state;
      shouldUpdate = willReceive || nextState !== prevState;
      if (inst.shouldComponentUpdate) {
        if (__DEV__) {
          shouldUpdate = measureLifeCyclePerf(
            () => inst.shouldComponentUpdate(nextProps, nextState, nextContext),
            this._debugID,
            'shouldComponentUpdate',
          );
        } else {
          shouldUpdate = inst.shouldComponentUpdate(
            nextProps,
            nextState,
            nextContext,
          );
        }
      } else {
        if (this._compositeType === ReactCompositeComponentTypes.PureClass) {
          shouldUpdate =