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
warning(
        !inst.contextTypes,
        'contextTypes was defined as an instance property on %s. Use a ' +
          'static property to define contextTypes instead.',
        this.getName() || 'a component',
      );
      warning(
        typeof inst.componentShouldUpdate !== 'function',
        '%s has a method called ' +
          'componentShouldUpdate(). Did you mean shouldComponentUpdate()? ' +
          'The name is phrased as a question because the function is ' +
          'expected to return a value.',
        this.getName() || 'A component',
      );
      warning(
        typeof inst.componentDidUnmount !== 'function',
        '%s has a method called ' +
          'componentDidUnmount(). But there is no such lifecycle method. ' +
          'Did you mean componentWillUnmount()?',
        this.getName() || 'A component',
      );
      warning(
        typeof inst.componentWillRecieveProps !== 'function',
        '%s has a method called ' +
          'componentWillRecieveProps(). Did you mean componentWillReceiveProps()?',
        this.getName() || 'A component',
      );
      if (
        isPureComponent(Component) &&
        typeof inst.shouldComponentUpdate !== 'undefined'