In lists it is pretty obvious why we need to set the keys. If ReactTransitionGroup has a single child node then it is not as obvious that the key is needed. And it is not mentioned in the docs.
So either it is a documentation issue or a code issue. In my opinion it would be more intuitive if key is optional when the ReactTransitionGroup only has a single child. At least it would be nice if it throws a warning during JSX-transformation.