noun, feminine/nɔk.tyl/plural: noctules
noctule is feminine in French.
noctule
“La troisième espèce, que nous appellerons la noctule, du mot italien nottola...” — The third species, which we shall call the noctule, from the Italian word nottola...
Coined in 1760 by Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton (quoted below) as a latinised borrowing of the Italian nottola (name for various bats and birds).