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
updateQueue,
  ) {
    if (__DEV__) {
      ReactCurrentOwner.current = this;
      ReactDebugCurrentFrame.getCurrentStack =
        ReactDebugCurrentStack.getStackAddendum;
      try {
        return this._constructComponentWithoutOwner(
          doConstruct,
          publicProps,
          publicContext,
          updateQueue,
        );
      } finally {
        ReactCurrentOwner.current = null;
        ReactDebugCurrentFrame.getCurrentStack = null;
      }
    } else {
      return this._constructComponentWithoutOwner(
        doConstruct,
        publicProps,
        publicContext,
        updateQueue,
      );
    }
  },
  _constructComponentWithoutOwner: function(
    doConstruct,
    publicProps,
    publicContext,