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
markup = this.performInitialMount(
        renderedElement,
        hostParent,
        hostContainerInfo,
        transaction,
        context,
      );
    }
    return markup;
  },
  performInitialMount: function(
    renderedElement,
    hostParent,
    hostContainerInfo,
    transaction,
    context,
  ) {
    
    if (renderedElement === undefined) {
      renderedElement = this._renderValidatedComponent();
    }
    var nodeType = ReactNodeTypes.getType(renderedElement);
    this._renderedNodeType = nodeType;
    var child = this._instantiateReactComponent(
      renderedElement,
      nodeType !== ReactNodeTypes.EMPTY ,
    );
    this._renderedComponent = child;