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
* @providesModule ReactCompositeComponent
 */
'use strict';
var React = require('react');
var ReactComponentEnvironment = require('ReactComponentEnvironment');
var ReactCompositeComponentTypes = require('ReactCompositeComponentTypes');
var ReactErrorUtils = require('ReactErrorUtils');
var ReactInstanceMap = require('ReactInstanceMap');
var ReactInstrumentation = require('ReactInstrumentation');
var ReactNodeTypes = require('ReactNodeTypes');
var ReactReconciler = require('ReactReconciler');
var {ReactCurrentOwner} = require('ReactGlobalSharedState');
if (__DEV__) {
  var {ReactDebugCurrentFrame} = require('ReactGlobalSharedState');
  var ReactDebugCurrentStack = require('ReactDebugCurrentStack');
  var warning = require('fbjs/lib/warning');
  var warningAboutMissingGetChildContext = {};
}
var checkPropTypes = require('prop-types/checkPropTypes');
var emptyObject = require('fbjs/lib/emptyObject');
var invariant = require('fbjs/lib/invariant');
var shallowEqual = require('fbjs/lib/shallowEqual');
var shouldUpdateReactComponent = require('shouldUpdateReactComponent');
function StatelessComponent(Component) {}
StatelessComponent.prototype.render = function() {
  var Component = ReactInstanceMap.get(this)._currentElement.type;
  var element = Component(this.props, this.context, this.updater);
  return element;
};
function shouldConstruct(Component) {