diff --git a/packages/react-devtools-shared/src/backend/fiber/shared/DevToolsFiberChangeDetection.js b/packages/react-devtools-shared/src/backend/fiber/shared/DevToolsFiberChangeDetection.js
index 0feef5803e92..819dd3a62e4c 100644
--- a/packages/react-devtools-shared/src/backend/fiber/shared/DevToolsFiberChangeDetection.js
+++ b/packages/react-devtools-shared/src/backend/fiber/shared/DevToolsFiberChangeDetection.js
@@ -135,7 +135,12 @@ export function didFiberRender(
       // releasing DevTools in lockstep with React, we should import a
       // function from the reconciler instead.
       const PerformedWork = 0b000000000000000000000000001;
-      return (getFiberFlags(nextFiber) & PerformedWork) === PerformedWork;
+      const hasPerformedWork =
+        (getFiberFlags(nextFiber) & PerformedWork) === PerformedWork;
+      if (nextFiber.alternate === null) {
+        return false;
+      }
+      return hasPerformedWork;
     // Note: ContextConsumer only gets PerformedWork effect in 16.3.3+
     // so it won't get highlighted with React 16.3.0 to 16.3.2.
     default: