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 (shouldUpdateReactComponent(prevRenderedElement, nextRenderedElement)) {
      ReactReconciler.receiveComponent(
        prevComponentInstance,
        nextRenderedElement,
        transaction,
        this._processChildContext(context),
      );
    } else {
      var oldHostNode = ReactReconciler.getHostNode(prevComponentInstance);
      var nodeType = ReactNodeTypes.getType(nextRenderedElement);
      this._renderedNodeType = nodeType;
      var child = this._instantiateReactComponent(
        nextRenderedElement,
        nodeType !== ReactNodeTypes.EMPTY ,
      );
      this._renderedComponent = child;
      var nextMarkup = ReactReconciler.mountComponent(
        child,
        transaction,
        this._hostParent,
        this._hostContainerInfo,
        this._processChildContext(context),
        debugID,
      );
      ReactReconciler.unmountComponent(
        prevComponentInstance,
        safely,
        false ,
      );
      if (__DEV__) {