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
if (debugID !== 0) {
          var childDebugIDs = child._debugID !== 0 ? [child._debugID] : [];
          ReactInstrumentation.debugTool.onSetChildren(debugID, childDebugIDs);
        }
      }
      this._replaceNodeWithMarkup(
        oldHostNode,
        nextMarkup,
        prevComponentInstance,
      );
    }
  },
  /**
   * Overridden in shallow rendering.
   *
   * @protected
   */
  _replaceNodeWithMarkup: function(oldHostNode, nextMarkup, prevInstance) {
    ReactComponentEnvironment.replaceNodeWithMarkup(
      oldHostNode,
      nextMarkup,
      prevInstance,
    );
  },
  /**
   * @protected
   */
  _renderValidatedComponentWithoutOwnerOrContext: function() {
    var inst = this._instance;
    var renderedElement;